186
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE JESUITS
hovering over the world because of that nucleus of blind fanaticism we call the Vatican. Its "sacred" egoism is such that circumstances and the urgent necessity for an international accord, in order to avoid the almost total extermination threatening humanity, do not matter. The Holy Office's secretary—this supreme tribunal whose past is too wellknown—does not take into account such negligible contingencies. Do the Russians go to mass? This is the important thing, and if President Eisenhower does not understand it, it is because he "seems to have grown stupid with terror", to use the terms of the fiery "Porporato". The delirious frenzy of Cardinal Ottaviani's speech makes us smile at the same time as shocking us. And many think that this firebrand will find it difficult to persuade "Christians" that the atomic bomb must be accepted gracefully. But we must be on our guard! Behind this spokesman of the Holy See, there is all the pontifical organisation—and especially this secret army of Jesuits not made up of ordinary soldiers. All the members of that famous Company work within the corridors of power, and their action, without making a great deal of noise, can be singularly effective, that is to say evil. A rumour was spread that Cardinal Ottaviani's brutal stand was not the exact reflection of the Holy See's thought, but only that of one of the socalled "integrist" clan. The Catholic press, in France at any rate, tried to attenuate the import of that violent speech—and "La Croix", in particular, only printed a short extract from which all violence had been omitted. Wise opportunism indeed, but it could not deceive anyone. It is just impossible that such a sharp criticism, of an exceptional political importance, could have been uttered from the pulpit of "Sainte-Marie-Majeure" by the Holy Office's secretary, without the approval of that Congregation's chief, of its "prefect", the Sovereign Pontiff himself. And, as far as we know, he never disowned his eloquent subordinate. Pope John XXIII could not throw that bomb himself, but by making one of the most important of the Curia's dignitaries take his place, he wanted to make his connivance obvious to everyone. Moreover, and by a strange "coincidence", a more modest explosion took place at the same time, in the form of an article in the "Osservatore Romano", condemnding once again socialism, even non-marxist, as "opposed to Christian truth". However, those who practice this political "mistake" are not excommunicated "ipso facto" like the communists. They still have the hope of escaping Hell—but the threat of Purgatory remains! By showing its opposition to any attempt at bringing together East and West so vehemently, was the Vatican expecting some positive results? Was it really hoping to intimidate the Statesmen who pursue these politics of peace? Or was it at least hoping to provoke a move contrary to the "detente" amongst the faithful?